 |
Re: [RC] Heat and Conditioning - heidiI seem to recall reading that this is true for older horses as well - their skin tends to lose some of its elasticity as they age, making it slower to spring back. When I read this (I can't remember where), I went out and tested our horses - our 29 yr old did have more tenting than the younger ones. A one-rat study, but...Heidi? Have you experienced this?Yes--and I suspect that is also due to less subcutaneous body fat, although there are likely other factors as well with age... Heidi And a PS to that, which occurred to me just as I hit "send" (naturally)... IF all other parameters are good, and the horse just has that "boiled-down" look to him, I don't get too obsessed with skin tenting. If his guts are rocking along and his heart rate is dropping well and his cap refill is pronto and he is drinking and ripping at his hay or the grass or whatever, he is likely well enough hydrated. Skin tenting is one of those things that correlates to hydration but is not an exact expression, precisely because of differences in natural elasticity, subcu body fat, etc. It goes back to the old maxim about looking at the whole horse... Heidi ============================================================ If you treat an Arab like a Thoroughbred, it will behave like a Quarter horse. ~ Libby Llop ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
|